Congress President Sonia Gandhi along with oppositions vice-presidential candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi after casting their votes for vice presidential election at Parliament in New Delhi (Photo: IANS)

“I congratulate him on his victory. I wish him all the best,” Gandhi said, but added that the the number of votes he got was beyond certain calculations.

He thanked the MPs, who comprise the electoral college of the vice-presidential election, and the parties who had nominated him as their candidate.

“I believe the numbers voted for me are beyond expectation of certain calculations. They represent different political persuasions, they come from different political parties of India. And they have come together to vote for what they thought was for the nation’s good, which is the affirmation of the right to free thought, free speech, the right to hold a different opinion and the duty to serve cause of pluralism and secularism in India,” he said.

Gandhi, who was candidate of Congress and some major opposition parties, got 244 votes compared to 516 received by Naidu.